St. Francisville man killed by falling tree in freak accident

Truck passenger suffers only scratches

In what the West Feliciana sheriff described to as “an act of God,” a 64-year-old St. Francisville man was killed in a freak accident Saturday after a pecan tree fell over and crushed him in his pickup truck.

Danny Daniel, 11646 Powell Station Road, was driving his Ford pickup truck away from his barn Saturday when the tree fell and one of the limbs came down on him the driver’s seat of the vehicle, the Sheriff’s Office reported.

A helper sitting alongside Daniel in the passenger’s seat suffered only scratches from the shattered glass, said Sheriff Austin Daniel. The sheriff said the other man had been helping Daniel load items onto the truck from the barn.

The sheriff, who said he is a distant relative of Daniel, said the victim was pronounced dead at his home.

Wayne Slater, a St. Francisville resident who knew Danny Daniel for 23 years, described him as jovial and always keeping himself busy, usually by making repairs to his wife’s shop in town, Shanty Too. He also took good care of his former plantation home known as Forest Plantation, Slater said.

“I’m very sad now,” Slater said. “He was a very nice guy to know.”

The sheriff said Danny Daniel was married but had no children.

Danny Daniel was an Angola prison official who was arrested earlier this month on a felony count of malfeasance in office. He was accused of inappropriate behavior with an inmate, although no details were released.

Daniel had been keeping a lower profile in the weeks since the accusations emerged, Slater said.